Adil Najam
UPDATE (Sept 28, 2007): In a split decision (6-3), the Supreme Court of Pakistan has ruled that Gen. Musharraf can contest the Presidential Elections in uniform. Earlier, on September 20, Justice Javed Iqbal had remarked that the 17th Constitutional Amendment provided crutches to President Musharraf, not by the Supreme Court.
According to The News:
The nine-member larger Bench hearing the identical constitutional petitions comprised of Justice Rana Bhagwan Das, Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi, Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokar, Justice Falak Sher, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan and Justice M Javed Buttar…. Six of the nine-judge larger bench gave verdict in favour of dismissing the petitions while other three judges, Justice Rana Bhagwandas, Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan and Justice Shakirullah Jan differed.
ORIGINAL POST: The main headline in The News today (Sept. 21, 2007) is revealing. It reads:
Oct. 6 set to “re-elect Musharraf.”
News reports in major newspapers do not usually use headlines with such obvious sarcasm. In fact, more than sarcasm there is desperation in the headline. It seems that like much of the nation, The News has also, finally, given up on the sham Presidential elections which are making a mockery of the Constitution, of the courts and, frankly, of the nation. The inverted commas in the headline say it all. The General wants to remain in power for his personal reasons, and he will do so no matter what, and no matter how. As the old Fifty-Fifty skit used to say: “karr lo jo karna hai”!
In a country where we change, amend, abuse, and concoct Constitutions at whims, it has always surprised me why we take Constitutional provisions so very seriously when it comes time to manipulate it. The spirit of the Constitution died long ago, what does it matter now whether the letter is followed or not?
Frankly, like The News, I am also disgusted with the process – and with everyone in it. While Gen. Musharraf has now lost all shred of process and is hell bent on keeping the Presidency by hook or by crook (and most likely by crook), the politicians and the media do not come across as much better either. The judiciary has fared better for now, but one wonders for how long.
What bugs me is the manipulation games everyone is playing with the Constitution. The media discussions are particularly depressing and people debate clauses but disregard the concepts behind the clauses. Everyone seems to relish the jorr torr, and no one wants to step back and say what does all of this mean for Pakistan.
There is absolutely no sense of what is “right” or “wrong”. Only, a discussion of what is ‘possible’ or ‘not possible.’ Politics may well be the ‘art of the possible’, but there is only that much abuse that even politics can take. Frankly, we have abused it enough.
Musharraf with his machinations to hold on to his kursi, the Chaudhries with their manipulations, the MMA with their fueling of fires, the MQM with its strongarm tactics, Benazir with her deals that seem really to center around getting the cases against her removed, even Nawaz Sharif with his less than convincing convictions …. None seems inspiring and none seems ready to rise to the moment.
Even the media seems to have lost its luster and relishes the minutia of dancing over a polity dying and being killed before its eyes. Engrossed in the sensationalism of the moment (whether it be a Presidential order, a Court adjournment, an Election Commission parchment, or merely the latest inanity from Sher Afghan) it seems to have no interest in the larger questions confronting the nation. The questions of democracy, the questions of extremism, the questions of civil war, the questions of economic disparity, the questions of civic disengagement, the questions of national lethargy in the face of all these questions.
I fear that I sound depressed. It is because I am. I have been in Pakistan the last three weeks, and personal reasons have kept me from writing much, or even visiting ATP much (thanks, Owais, for doing such a fine job managing the site), but I have thought often of writing about the daily political developments in this topi drama. I have not done so partly because I had even more pressing crises on my mind, but also because it has become increasingly difficult to look at all of this as anything except a political circus. But a very sad and depressing circus at that. This is not just playing poker with the fate of the nation, this is more like playing Russian roulette!
I made arrangements to be able to visit the Supreme Court during its current interesting cases. I decided not to go. Same reason. Its way too depressing. I am sorry, readers, to dump this on you, but its just one of those times. May these times end soon and may the sun shine again! Ameen! I have very little faith left in any of the major actors anymore, but I do have faith in the democratic spirit of ordinary Pakistanis. It will eventually triumph.
They say that democracy can sometimes lead to dirty politics. Yes, it can. But what we have just proved in Pakistan is that the lack of democracy leads to even dirtier politics.
Adil, I have to say that the worst of times have brought out the best in you. Great read. I usually don’t agree that much with you, but here I couldn’t agree more.
I have said this before, it is the process that is important. Democracy gets a new life when there is transition, because transition brings hope with it. This definitely is no democracy, because it seems all so hopeless.
The problem with all this is that there are no rules of the game. This sounds very much like my little son, who makes up his own rules while the game is played. When this happens, everyone can blame everyone for something, as no one can claim the moral high ground. Even the SC seems a party to all this, as they have endorsed the “doctrine of necessity” in the past, and can very well claim to use that again. Comments coming out of the current hearing don’t bode real well for the future (though I would love to be wrong here). We are paying the price for our lawlessness, our lack of respect for the constitution as a sacred doctrine, and the biggest beneficiary will be the one who is not afraid to break and manipulate the law.
This is also the time when you can see the real faces of the characters in play. While PPP had shown their true faces earlier, the one surprise here is Fazl-u-Rahman, who is openly going against his long time partners in MMA. At the height of this crisis, he has firmly ensconced himself in Mecca, waiting for a divine commandment. Latest is that he has been told to side with Mush and America, and to part ways with his old friends. How original.
What we Pakis don’t understand is that we are losing respect in our own eyes, and as a Nation in the eyes of the world. A political process is the need of the hour, to tell the world that we are able to conduct our affairs. In the absence of that, we are just puppets, in the hands of whoever wants to pull the strings.
Shehzad Ahmed Mir ji:
“Your comments on the defense deals and defense plots etc indeed shows your ignorant, stupid and very limited outlook on a larger canvass of what goes on in Pakistan and around the world. Do you really know how much money was siphoned by the corrupts likes of Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif? The cumulative amount is more than perhaps what the defense deals are worth.”
May we know how you came to that conclusion? Have you carried out a comparative analysis or just assuming?
” I am not in favor of having a military government. But in circumstances where I have to again select from twice failed and highly corrupt likes of Benazir & Nawaz Sharif just because they are civilians, I?d rather support Musharaf if only for his
economic performance in the last 8 years.”
Again, on what basis do you compare the economic performance of Mush with BB and NS? Please share your analysis and be sure to account for the increased foreign assistance and the roughly 2-3 b dollars of additional anual foreign remitances coming into Pakistan after 9/11 rather than giving him credit for these things too.
“…I am not supporting him, but ask Pakistanis to force their/our leaders to show what contract they are willing
to be judged against. In the absence of that all calls for democracy are as pathetic as all shinanigans by Musharraf to stay in power.”
Bilal, I have been saying roughly the same thing (in a slightly different way), but forcing parties to talk about manifestos has continued to remain way down on the national agenda. So the question is, how can the parties be forced to show what they stand for?
When I wrote those two pieces on elections and intra-party democracy, my goal was to highlight these issues. But it all went widely ignored by the mainstream media and civil society. If the same points had been given by some political party, there would have been endless talkshows and newspaper columns. A large group of civil society organizations led by HRCP would also have imediately jumped in to give a statement of endorsement. Laikin jub aik aam citizen koi baat karta hai to na hamari civil society uss ko tavajo deti hai na media. And to be honest, I belong to a privillaged segment of society that gives me at least the means to raise my voice just a little bit. The so called ordinary man in whose name we passionately talk about democracy doesn’t even have that much. What he thinks and what are the issues that matter to him, noone really cares about.
Bilal,
I agree with first part of your analysis. But differ a little bit with reference to Imran Khan. No doubt he is trying to have ‘political movement and discussing his social contract’ but he hardly has the base and network at national level at this point of time. I agree that he is gaining some public support as compare to the baseline and age of his political party.
At the moment, we cannot put all the burden on his shoulders to clean the Augean stable as the whole nation is now putting all the burden on SC to fix the things. And frankly speaking, as a nation we cannot afford to have another leader who is not going to fulfill his promises.
Yes of course we need to nurture this type of leadership and approach to replace those life time chairperson or chairman of the parties.
IN MUSHARRAF WE TRUST!!! LOG LIVE MUSHI! The knock out punch is coming!